As is well known, a basic tool used by brickmasons in the construction process is the bricklayer's guide or "line dog." This device, also commonly known as a "line stretcher," functions as a means for securing and holding sections of twine or cord that serve as a guide for laying successive courses of brick or block during the construction of a wall or the like.
Presently, tools of this sort can generally be classified as falling into either one of two catagories, adjustable or non-adjustable.
The disadvantage that can be seen with the non-adjustable type guides is that such a guide requires the use of a separate tool to accomodate various sizes of blocks necessitating the purchase of a variety of guides of various widths.
Adjustable guides generally consist of a variety of cooperating metalic pieces which are held together by a securing means such as bolts and wing-nuts. In order to adjust such a tool for different size building blocks or bricks, the adjustable securing means must be removed and the tool appropriately re-set. After setting the tool to the desired demension, said bolts or similar means are reinserted into a variety of configurations of matching holes, or upon a predetermined place along the metallic piece and retightened so as to secure the device in its adjusted position.
Common disadvantages in this type of arrangement are that morter tends to harden in the threads of said bolts making the nuts difficult to remove. Also, bolt threads tend to become battered with use, making assembly and disassembly difficult. Moisture will also generally cause the bolting means to rust, making separation and adjustment difficult. Combined with the above is the additional disadvantage associated with the problem of dropping or otherwise losing the nut or bolt adjusting means in the work enviornment.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,728,142 issued to Betterton and U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,004 issued to Payne, in addition to providing examples of many of the disadvantages set out above, also point to the novelty and desirability of another aspect of the present invention namely, its efficient means of securing itself to the building surface.
As can be readily seen from the above cited examples of prior art in the field, in addition to a means for adjusting a guide device to accomodate widths of building block, a simple and efficient means of securing the device itself in a manner that would provide a stable platform from which to run a guideline would be desirable. U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,004 to Payne, for example, utilizes a conical member set in a concrete block. U.S. Pat. No. 2,728,142 to Betterton, on the other hand, utilizes a series of bolting means which has many of the disadvantages of similar means utilized in adjusting the width of the device as was set out above.
Unlike the cited examples, the guide of present invention utilizes a simplified and efficient means of securing itself to the building surface, whereby said improved guide is capable of frictionally securing itself by utilizing the tension produced by the guideline, thus doing away with the need for means such as a bolting mechanism or weighted base member.